decentering
Moving from center
Decentering is shifting focus away from oneself or from a dominant perspective.
In psychology, it means stepping back from your own thoughts and emotions to observe them with detachment: Meditation helps with decentering from anxious thoughts.
In social contexts, it refers to moving marginalized voices to the center while questioning assumptions that privilege one viewpoint: decentering whiteness in the curriculum.
The term implies that something was centered before—and that centering was a choice, not a given.
Removal from usual location
- peripheryBoundary or outer region
- marginEdge of a page
- asymmetryAbsence of balanced form
- redistributionSharing out again differently
dispersal · diffusion · relocation · reorientation · shifting · repositioning · reconfiguration · decentralization
Examining one's own mind
- mindfulnessAwareness of the present
- detachmentSeparation or emotional uninvolvement
- perspective-takingUnderstanding another's viewpoint
- humilityFreedom from arrogance
self-awareness · objectivity · metacognition · introspection · depersonalization · witnessing · non-attachment · reframing
Philosophy questioning stable meaning
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
- postmodernismSkepticism toward universal truths
- decolonizingEnding colonial domination
- hegemonyDominant group's control
marginalization · otherness · subaltern · privilege · canon · intersectionality
Sharing another's emotions
- perspective-takingUnderstanding another's viewpoint
- listeningAttending to sound
- humilityFreedom from arrogance
- compassionConcern for others' distress
mutuality · dialogue · openness · receptivity · curiosity · validation · attunement · presence
Distributing power from center
- redistributionSharing out again differently
- power-sharingJointly held governmental authority
- democratizationTransition toward popular rule
- pluralismCoexistence of differing views
polycentric · networked · horizontal · grassroots · bottom-up · devolution · localization · subsidiarity
displacement
Removal from usual location
redistribution · dispersal · diffusion · relocation · reorientation · shifting · repositioning · reconfiguration · decentralization · scattering
self-reflection
Examining one's own mind
- mindfulnessAwareness of the present
- detachmentSeparation or emotional uninvolvement
- perspective-takingUnderstanding another's viewpoint
humility · self-awareness · objectivity · metacognition · introspection · depersonalization · witnessing · non-attachment · reframing · therapeutic
poststructuralism
Philosophy questioning stable meaning
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
- postmodernismSkepticism toward universal truths
- decolonizingEnding colonial domination
hegemony · marginalization · otherness · subaltern · privilege · canon · intersectionality
empathy
Sharing another's emotions
- perspective-takingUnderstanding another's viewpoint
- listeningAttending to sound
- humilityFreedom from arrogance
compassion · mutuality · dialogue · openness · receptivity · curiosity · validation · attunement · presence · hospitality
decentralization
Distributing power from center
- redistributionSharing out again differently
- power-sharingJointly held governmental authority
- democratizationTransition toward popular rule
pluralism · polycentric · networked · horizontal · grassroots · bottom-up · devolution · localization · subsidiarity · distributed
- mindfulnessmindfulness, meditation, meditate, breathe, breath
- critical theorydeconstruction, Marxism, feminism, simulacrum, postcolonialism
- lens flawscoma, astigmatism, vignetting, lens flare, distortion
- Piaget theoryobject permanence, schema, schemas, schemata, equilibration
decenteringself-absorption
Preoccupation with oneself
self-focus · egocentrism · self-centeredness · self-preoccupation · narcissism
decenteringcentering
Positioning at midpoint
recentering · centralizing · centralization · foregrounding · prioritizing
decenteringenmeshment
Boundary-blurring relational pattern
identification · immersion · rumination · entanglement · absorption
center, central, eccentric, centering, centralize, decentralize, recenter, off-center, decenter